Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality [Paperback]

Richard Beck (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 8, 2012

'I desire mercy, not sacrifice'. Echoing Hosea, Jesus defends his embrace of the unclean in the Gospel of Matthew, seeming to privilege the prophetic call to justice over the Levitical pursuit of purity. And yet, as missional faith communities are well aware, the tensions and conflicts between holiness and mercy are not so easily resolved. In an unprecedented fusion of psychological science and theological scholarship, Richard Beck describes the pernicious (and largely unnoticed) effects of the psychology of purity upon the life and mission of the church.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book left me stunned by an overwhelming impression of the kind of struggles some Christians have to come to terms with. This is a book that any young, or even not so young, earnest Evangelical would do well to engage with. Consequently one can only praise Beck for this tour de force." Neil Broadbent in: The Christian Parapsychologist Vol. 1 (No.7). September 2012 "...Noteworthy and full of insights, Unclean is a recommended reading for anyone interested in the psychological- and theological- aspects of purity in the church..." David Jimenez-Cardenas, Psychology of Religion, Vol.24, No 2, 2012. '...The value of this book is that it begins a conversation that needs to be explored. Many of the discussions to date about human sexuality have ignored the impact of a disgust reaction on the ways that people respond to those discussions. A more honest recognition of personal response will allow a more honest conversation. For that reason, I am grateful for the contribution this book makes...' Marion Chatterley, The Expository Times, Vol. 124, No. 8, May 2013

About the Author

Richard Beck is Professor of Psychology at Abilene Christian University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Lutterworth Press (March 8, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0718892569
• ISBN-13: 978-0718892562
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.6 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,619,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Book May 6, 2011

By John VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Richard Beck is a professor at Abilene Christian University whose blog Experimental Theology, which explores the intersections between psychology and theology, has revealed him to be one of the most intelligent and provocative voices in world of theology today. His legion of fans has long hoped that he would eventually start producing books so that his work could make the larger impact that it should in both academic conversations and the church. Unclean: Meditations on Purity, Hospitality, and Mortality is the type of excellent thought that I've come to expect from Beck, and I do not think that it will disappoint. It is an important book.

Unclean links, expands, and more fully documents several lines of thought that have appeared on his blog in the past (you can preview the most important of them if you simply search "Spiritual Pollution" on his site). I think the main idea is that much of church life is driven by the psychology of disgust. Disgust is one of the emotions that regulates inner/outer borders of the self. For instance, core disgust keeps us from drinking spoiled milk or eating food that's fallen in the floor, and it can make us vomit to expel a contaminant (real or imagined) from us. Disgust is also peculiarly irrational, driven by "magical thinking." Studies, for instance, show that humans will not eat brownies that are shaped like dog poop, even if they know it's a brownie, and they won't drink apple juice that they've seen contaminated by contact with a cockroach, even if they then immediately afterward see the juice boiled and cleansed in front of them.

Importantly, humans extend the logic of disgust so that it also governs sociomoral boundaries. So, in cultures which emphasize an ethic of divinity (aka are centered around metaphors of purity), disgust laws will be apply to human relationships. In extreme cases, this leads to mass extermination of peoples, such as the Nazi genocide of the supposedly contaminated, subhuman Jews in order to protect the supposedly pure race from contamination. In the church, the logic of disgust manifests itself in the feelings of disgust toward people's whose perceived sins violate rules of purity. This explains, in part, why sexual sins have historically been so egregious in the church. I know many people who admit to feeling physical pangs of disgust upon meeting or touching or even viewing a homosexual of either gender, but nobody responds to other, more harmful, perceived sins, such as theft or overconsumption, with feelings of disgust. Those sins aren't regulated by a logic of disgust in churches, and so the response is less powerful.

This all matters because the ability to love is at stake. Disgust works against the ability to love, something which Jesus showed over and over in the New Testament, such as in Jesus' table fellowship and his assertion that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. Beck's exegesis brings out the psychological dynamics of Jesus' teachings, demonstrating the ways in which his ministry sought to break through the lines separating the clean from the unclean.

To say all of that is still to just hint at what all the book is about. Although it is a fairly short read, what Beck has to say has bearing on virtually all aspects of Christian life.

I would also add that Unclean is a book that can appeal to a wide variety of readers. I think the book is intended to appeal to both scholars and lay-readers, audiences which Beck's academic background and successful blog have prepared him to reach, and so is a well-documented book, written with precision, that is yet a good read. It's a provocative work that will, no doubt, ruffle feathers. But Beck has a deep and important insight that deserves to be read widely.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Like a good scrubbing April 2, 2011

By Nancy E. Bush

Format:Paperback

We keep forgetting how impossible it is to isolate our worship lives from our underlying selves. With data and insights from research studies, Beck scrubs away the inattention that ordinarily keeps us from noticing how psychological influences shape religious practice and attitudes--in this case, how disgust controls our theology. This is a surprising and even astonishing book. Unclean is bound to startle and dismay many church folk, especially those who like their religion "nice"--which is part of the point of the book. Sometimes brilliant, always thoughtful, creative, as with his blog, Experimental Theology, which also explores religious thinking against a background of psychological research, Beck continues to amaze. Five stars for helping get my thinking cleaned up. Great stuff! I'm loaning my copy to my Episcopal priest, on condition he gives it back. Highly recommended.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read - Deep Insight into the Human Condition July 9, 2011

By Mark P. Brown VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Richard Beck is a professor of Psychology at Abilene Christian University and the writer of the blog Experimental Theology. That perch gives him a fascinating place to ponder both the human condition and the church's role within modern society.

Within the church there is a continual split between a focus on purity and a focus on hospitality or mission. Richard Beck's simple argument is that it is a necessary tension that needs to be regulated. Churches commonly known as liberal have collapsed the tension in the favor of hospitality, but in doing this they have lost the transcendent. Churches commonly known as conservative have turned inward to guard purity, but in doing this they have lost Jesus' own mission to the sinners and tax collectors exemplified in his table fellowship. Dr. Beck's method of regulation is what strikes this reviewer as that rarest of items - a new understanding of the Eucharist or Lord's Supper that at the same time is deeply orthodox.

Dr. Beck achieves this by a solid grounding of the Psychology of disgust which is the emotion that grounds purity. He reviews how core disgust is a psychology regulating food and disease vectors. He then builds the argument how that core understanding spreads in moral, hospitality and mortality dimensions. He clearly demonstrates, through simple explanations of current research and theological reflection, how disgust is both necessary and toxic. It necessarily protects groups from unsafe practices, but it also shuts down mission and dialog. Understanding purity and its basis in disgust is necessary for regulating or keeping the tension. The Eucharist holds these things in tension as it cleanses through oral incorporation, it is aimed at God while also welcoming table fellowship, and body and blood which are reminders of mortality and need are the means that keep the community grounded. The purity and cleanliness is combined with the stranger, need and fleshiness of the body. Either half - the psychology review or the theological reflection - would be worth reading alone. You get them both.

One last and probably most important comment. This book is profound and simple in a way that I did not think was possible in the modern age. Writing from the academy is usually impossibly dense and understanding the purpose is not always easy. Popular writing is usually readable, but at the expense of any real impact on the reader. This book reminds me of reading Luther's Freedom of a Christian - it is a profound bolt of insight that at the end you say 'how could I have ever thought differently'.